William Cyrus "Cy" Reed III

Oct. 16, 1955 - July 19, 2012 GREAT NECK, NY - William Cyrus Reed III ("Cy") suffered catastrophic injuries from an automobile accident that ended his life on earth July 19, 2012. He was born on October 16th in Bloomington (IN) to William C. Reed Jr. and Martha Heseman Reed Bollenbacher, and is also survived by his step-father, John C. Bollenbacher, and by Cy's wife, Carol King-Reed, and their son, William Christopher Reed. Cy graduated from Bloomington High School South in 1973, and the University of Notre Dame in 1977, where he studied abroad at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Cy received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science, with an area of focus in African Studies, from Indiana University in 1989. The first of his many trips to Africa was with Crossroads Africa, with whom he helped build a school in Ada, Ghana, in the mid-1970s. Cy was a Rotary Fellow in Cologne, Germany, in 1978, and spent the following summer in South Africa working in a gold mine. As a professor of Political Science, Cy was employed by Simpson College, Wabash College, the American University of Cairo, Egypt (AUC), and the American University of Bulgaria, where he was serving as Provost at the time of the accident. Cy began his international research as a Fulbright Scholar in Zimbabwe in 1983. He subsequently did research in South Africa, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria. He authored many articles and books related to African studies and international development. He was also interviewed frequently by representatives of the international media, as well as being asked to speak as a subject expert to numerous foreign ministries. Cy traveled the world as easily as his neighborhood. He traveled to visit family in Senegal and Rwanda, and accompanied a friend to interview journalists in Tunisia and Nigeria, hitchhiking across the Sahara to do so in 1979. From 2000-2002, Cy served as Director of International Trade for the State of Indiana, for which he traveled to China, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Middle East. Cy inspired his family and friends by his creativity and his sense of humor. He was always happy, and always made others happy to be with him. He was an inspiration to all who knew him. Cy was a teacher: at camp, as a father, and as a professor. He was fearless in the classroom, whether the classroom platform was the horseback riding program for campers at Camp Eberhart, or while a tenured Professor at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he served as the first Director of African Studies and developed the Refugee Studies Program at AUC, or the joy of self-reliance to Christopher at their cottage on Diamond Lake in Michigan, a lake he had been visiting since his childhood, and which he considered home. In Cy's eyes, no subject was too difficult and no student was incapable. Cy served on the Board of Directors at Camp Eberhart. He was also an active member of the Episcopal Church, both in the United States and abroad. During the 1990s, he served as the Head of the St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church Vestry in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt. In addition to family mentioned above, Cy is survived by his sister, Paula Reed Lynch of Arlington, VA, her partner, Margaret Pollack; Cy's nephews, Jason Lynch and his wife, Becca Ruesch Lynch of Charlottesville, VA, Mike Lynch of Arlington, VA; his brother, the Rev. C. Davies Reed and his wife, Carol Rogers Reed of Indianapolis; his brother-in-law, Kester L. King and his wife, Judy King of South Bend, IN; and nephews, Kester R. King and his wife, Vanessa and family of South Bend, IN, Larry T. King and his wife, Angel and family of South Bend, IN; and David A. King and family of Independence, OR. Cy's aunts and uncles include Carol and Robert Shircliff of Jacksonville, FL, and John and Dottie Heseman of Indianapolis; and cousins, Joanne Trobaugh, Rick Darby, Lucy Tracy, Brad Heseman, Julia Finn, Karla Gorsky, Laura Howell and Betsy Sheffield, Paula Bollenbacher and Paulette Feltus. Memorial services will be held at a later date. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to Camp Eberhart, Three Rivers, Michigan, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Mishawaka, IN, or to St. Francis-In-The-Fields Episcopal Church in Zionsville, IN. To send condolences, please visit www.McGannHay.com.